Tell Congress Mercury Pollution is NOT Good For You

Anti-environment forces in Congress apparently want you to believe mercury pollution is good for you.

How else do you explain that one of the first bills introduced in Congress would block new toxic emissions standards for cement plants – the third largest manmade source of mercury pollution in America?

These standards are essential to protect public health and, in particular, the health of developing fetuses and young children.

This is the first salvo in a continued assault on America's clean air and public health protections by this Congress, and we need your help to beat them back.

Please send an email right now to your members of Congress urging them to oppose this cynical attempt to allow big polluters to continue to poison Americans.

Letter to

U.S. House of Representatives

I am writing to strenuously urge you to oppose H.J. Res. 9, an irresponsible effort by Rep. John Carter (R-TX) to use the Congressional Review Act to permanently ban important new mercury pollution controls for cement plants. These standards are essential to protect public health and, in particular, the health of developing fetuses and young children.

The list of health threats from low dose exposure to mercury pollution is long and disturbing. Chronic low-dose exposure to mercury compounds can disrupt the development of fetuses and infants, damaging the brain and causing learning disabilities, delayed development, language disorders, memory problems, loss of vision and hearing, and many other harmful effects. Exposure to mercury in adults is associated with heart disease and other cardiovascular illnesses.

The new pollution standards would cut mercury pollution from cement plants by 92% and would also cut out 5,200 tons of other hazardous air pollutants, along with 5,900 tons of acid gases. In the process, they'd save up to 2,500 lives per year, and avoid tens of thousands of asthma attacks and other health problems.

Not only will the new standards save lives they will save money. According to EPA estimates, the new standards would save between $6.7 and $18 billion in public health costs every year, far outweighing industry's costs of compliance, which are estimated to be less than $1 billion.

The effort to strike down this important new standard is a callous move that puts polluter profits ahead of the public's safety and welfare.

I urge you to oppose Rep. Carter's "Mercury Pollution Is Good for You" bill.